Nergui Manalsuren
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 25 2007 (IPS) – When 189 world leaders met at U.N. headquarters in New York in 2000, they pledged to take a number of steps to make a real dent in poverty and hunger.
Plumpy’nut is given to 10-month-old Bereket Geyidere at the Segen Clinic in Ethiopia. Credit: UNICEF/Indrias Getachew
Despite their promises some seven years ago, however, millions of children continue to suffer from severe malnutriti…
Ruth Ansah Ayisi
MAPUTO, Jul 30 2007 (IPS) – Over 1,000 Mozambicans, including children, are trafficked to South Africa every year where they are forced into prostitution or to provide free or cheap labour. In response, Mozambique s government last week approved a new law which will make human trafficking a crime punishable with long prison sentences.
It will probably be cold comfort to Sonia to know that Mozambique s council of ministers approved a law against human trafficking last week. She was rescued just over a year ago after having been trafficked to South Africa to provide domestic work free of charge.
After her return, she did not want to talk to her family about her experience. She only wanted to move away to another part of town, to be alone with her twin b…
David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Aug 28 2007 (IPS) – The European Union s top trade official has called on Thailand to revise its efforts to provide cheap medicines to people with AIDS over concerns that the country could be undermining global rules on intellectual property.
Since last year, Thailand has issued compulsory licenses on several patented medicines to ensure that they are made available at more affordable prices than they would otherwise be.
Although the Bangkok government insists that it is entitled to take such steps under rules set by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), its actions have been criticised by Peter Mandelson, the European commissioner for trade.
In a letter, seen by IPS, Mandelson expressed concern that Bangkok may be taking a new approach to…
Abderrahim El Ouali
CASABLANCA, Sep 29 2007 (IPS) – Industrial pollution is causing at least two billion euros worth of damage every year in Morocco, environmentalists estimate.
This is a serious problem in Morocco and the situation is getting worse and worse, environmentalist Mahfoud Atif from the independent watchdog Modernity told IPS.
The last official study into industrial pollution was carried out by the ministry of environment in 2004. The study that looked at 220 industrial units showed that 81 of these are extremely polluting.
The food-processing industry comes first, generating 68 percent of toxic and organic refuse. Olive oil industrial refuse is the main source of pollution of water sources, especially the main rivers Oum Rabî and Sebou.
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Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, Oct 15 2007 (IPS) – High economic growth rates, political will and laws aimed at ensuring the right to food will not be enough to eradicate hunger in Latin America by 2025, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which calls for ongoing investment, improved coordination of programmes and support for family farming.
Hunger and malnutrition affect close to 52.4 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean, equivalent to 10 percent of the region s population, according to figures from the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).
Haiti has the highest rate of undernutrition, with 46 percent of its population going hungry. It is followed by the Dominican Republic with 29 percent, and Nicaragua with 27 percent. In Sout…
Zofeen Ebrahim
SEOUL, Nov 22 2007 (IPS) – The rhythmic beat at the inaugural conference of the World Toilet Association seemed to roll away cultural taboos surrounding the act of defecation.
Drumming up support for the 'toilet revolution' Credit:
With a percussionist drumming on toilets, Thursday s opening ceremony witnessed some 1,300 participants from 60 countries, a large number of them officials, nodding acknowledgement that the issue of insufficient toilets can no longer be ignored.
The Nov. 21-25 event is seen as a coup for le…
Abra Pollock
WASHINGTON, Jan 3 2008 (IPS) – When Maria, who asked that her full name not be used, began working as a New York City-area hair stylist almost 26 years ago, she had a client named Betty who would often show up to her appointments with serious-looking injuries.
A broken rib, a gash, a burn on her hand for each of these, Betty would provide Maria with a lengthy story about how clumsy she had been. And because she had good excuses, and maybe because I just wasn #39t too aware, Maria didn #39t suspect anything.
It was not until Betty and Maria had built a decade-long relationship of hair stylist and client that one day Betty broke down and revealed to Maria that her husband was abusing her. Maria was not only upset and saddened, she felt moved to do something…
Sarah McGregor
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 6 2008 (IPS) – U.S. President George W. Bush will spend most of his time during a five-nation tour of Africa later this month in Tanzania, to spotlight development gains in the East African nation.
This is a success story, said U.S. embassy public affairs officer Jeffery Salaiz of Tanzania, during a press conference held in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam Tuesday.
In what will be his second presidential visit to Africa, Bush is to travel to Tanzania, Rwanda, Benin, Ghana and Liberia from Feb. 15-21 for talks with their heads of state and to visit projects funded by the U.S. government. Most of the trip Feb. 16-19 is to be spent in and around Dar es Salaam and Arusha, a town in northern Tanzania. It will be an opportunity to s…
Mohammed Omer
JABALYIA, Gaza, Mar 5 2008 (IPS) – An ambulance races through Jabalyia refugee camp to pick up the critically injured and the body parts strewn across the street. A normal day #39s job these days.
Another funeral procession in Gaza Credit: Mohammed Omer
Families crouch in makeshift shelters around handheld radios, listening out for some word that their agony will end. There is no electricity, clean water is at a premium.
No sign yet of an end to the #39hot winter #39 that Israel has determined for Gaza residents. Israel is determined to f…
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 17 2008 (IPS) – Brazilians, especially women, are among the global leaders in taking meticulous care of their bodies and exhibiting them to advantage. This is a significant factor in climbing social and economic ladders, establishing identities and competing successfully in markets, from employment to romance.
The result is explosive growth in the beauty industry, frenzied consumption of cosmetics and slimming products, enthusiasm for exercise programmes and widespread use of plastic surgery, even among teenagers.
This cult of physical perfection is a central research theme for anthropologist Mirian Goldenberg, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who has just launched a book, O corpo como capital (The Body as a Capi…